October 2016 MMA News Archive

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A pair of interesting featherweight fights have been added to the RIZIN New Year's Eve card.
Kron Gracie and new signee Tatsyua Kawajiri will square off in Saitama, Japan, on Dec. 31, and a rematch will go down when Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett and Minoru Kimura face off for the second time in 2016.

Former UFC middleweight and The Ultimate Fighter veteran Kevin Casey has signed with Bellator MMA on a multi-year, multi-fight deal and is eyeing a promotional debut in early 2017. Bellator officials confirmed the signing on Monday.

Former UFC lightweight champion, Rafael dos Anjos, feels like he has peaked at Kings MMA, the very gym that got him to UFC gold. Now, as he tells Combate he’s leaving his comfort zone, dos Anjos dreams of starting his own place.

“The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 3” has finished airing, and the matchup that will determine the next winner of the reality series is now official.
Martin Bravo (10-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Claudio Puelles (7-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will face off in the lightweight tournament final with a UFC contract on the line at next week’s UFC Fight Night 98 event.
UFC Fight Night 98 takes place Nov. 5 at Mexico City Arena in Mexico. The event airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.
“TUF: Latin America 3” was coached by former UFC champions and UFC Hall-of-Famers Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell. Each side will have a representative in the final. Bravo hails from Team Griffin, while Puelles spent the season with Team Liddell.
Bravo defeated Leonardo Rodriguez, Ilianovich Chalo and Javier Ganin en route to the final, going the the scorecards in two of those fights. Outside of the show, however, “Toro” has stopped eight opponents out of 10 professional wins.

Argentinian bantamweight Guido Cannetti has been pulled from next week’s UFC Fight Night 98 event following a flagged out-of-competition test issued by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
Cannetti took to Instagram to announce his removal from the card, and MMAjunkie subsequently confirmed the potential violation with UFC officials.
“The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has informed Guido Cannetti of a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on Oct. 5, 2016,” a statement read. “USADA has provisionally suspended Cannetti based on the potential anti-doping violation.”
“Ninja” Cannetti (7-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) was expected to face Marco Beltran (8-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) on the FS1-televised prelims of UFC Fight Night 98, which takes place Nov. 5 at Mexico City Arena. UFC officials are “currently exploring whether a replacement to fight Beltran can be arranged.”

Just days after his social media protest against Reebok, former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum revealed in an Instagram video on Friday that he has been suspended for three years from his television duties as an analyst and commentator on the UFC's Spanish-speaking broadcasts.

Jessica Eye suffered her fourth consecutive loss in the UFC last month against Bethe Correia at UFC 203. And by the UFC’s trend, it normally means that she’d be in danger of being cut from the roster.
UFC bosses Dana White and Sean Shelby, however, made an exception for “Evil” Eye. In an interview with FOX Sports, the number 13-ranked women’s bantamweight fighter also revealed that White even connected her to a sports psychologist who could help her deal with the mental aspect of the fight game.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) does not have a women's featherweight division and has no immediate plans to create one.
That said, not everyone in the mixed martial arts (MMA) community is prepared to just roll over and accept things at face value, and now a petition has been created to let those voices be heard.
"We, the many fans of MMA, call on the UFC to open a Featherweight (145 pound) division for the women fighters," the petition read . "There is an audience for it and you have a world-class fighter in Cris Cyborg to be its inaugural champion."

A former UFC champion is currently dealing with a frightening situation.
Three cars outside the home of Anthony Pettis were set on fire Thursday morning in Milwaukee, . A video of the aftermath of the incident was captured on video by a neighbor. Milwaukee police confirmed to MMA Fighting that an incident occurred, but would not identify Pettis as the victim due to policy.

Despite being sentenced to 4.5 years for sexual assault in 2015, Alexander Emelianenko could potentially return to the ring before the end of 2016.
According to Interfax.ru, the younger brother of MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko was released from prison three years early on parole for “good behavior.” Instead, he will be forced to complete “two years and 23 days of correctional labor with a 10% deduction of the convict’s salary going to the state.”

Kayla Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, will give mixed martial arts a shot.
Harrison has signed a deal with the World Series of Fighting, according to sources. USA Today was the first to break the news.
According to the report, she will her begin her tenure with the organization as an analyst on the upcoming Dec. 31 fight card in New York. She will also serve as a WSOF brand ambassador.

Tatsuya Kawajiri is going home.
The Japanese veteran has signed a new deal with Rizin FF, MMA Fighting has learned. Kawajiri's promotional debut hasn't been finalized just yet, but he is currently expected to fight in one of Rizin's year-end shows on either Dec. 29 or 31.

As two of the most dynamic competitors in the UFC, Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis have established themselves as must see TV for any fight fan. On Saturday, December 10, these featherweight contenders will meet in the Octagon for the first time as they collide on the UFC 206 card at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
In the UFC 206 main event, the UFC light heavyweight championship is on the line when Daniel Cormier defends his crown in a rematch against Anthony "Rumble" Johnson. Tickets are on sale now.

Former EliteXC heavyweight champion and 11-time UFC veteran Antonio Silva is heading to Russia.
MMAjunkie today confirmed with Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, that “Bigfoot” will compete in the main event of an upcoming Titov Boxing Promotion event on Nov. 18 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Silva (19-10-1) will take on Russian Ivan Shtyrkov (4-0).